An Lorish Airman Foresees His Death Analysis

Explore how Yeats’s poetry engages readers through its poetic treatment of upheaval.
In your answer make detailed reference to at least TWO of the following prescribed poems.

The spectacle of a poet's work invigorated by his lifelong struggle against the artistic inertia of his nation is one that would shed strong light into any era." –Louise Bogan. W.B Yeats intrinsically links his poems towards Irish politics and his attitudes to educate audiences on Irish culture and history. Using these poems as a source to comment on Irish politics and Irish legends to portray an ‘escape’ from reality. Through his influence of The Occult, Neoplatonism, Hindu Upanishad, Christianity and the philosophy of Nietsche and William Blake's poetry, he successfully…show more content…As in, An Irish Airman Foresees His Death” where Yeats responded to the hypocrisy of the British treatment and use of Irish soldiers in WWI. Upon the request of Lady Gregory to write a poem about her son Robert Gregory “constituted an awkward task for the poet.” –James Pethica. As he had to meet the request of Lady Gregory but at the same time not glorify war or make his muse a victim war. This short sixteen-line poem has a simple structure: lines metered in iambic tetrameter, and four grouped quatrains of alternating rhymes, allows the poet to depict his opinions of war, “My country is Kiltartan Cross, My countrymen Kiltartan’s poor.” The polyptoton repetition aligns Yeats attitudes with the countryside and people highlighting futility of the notion of war. Engaging audiences through his usage of anaphora and repetition consistently throughout the poem ““Those that I fight I do not hate Those that I guard I do not love;” in order to convey the difference between the two. The statement creates a flow to both the senseless sentences together in conjunction with Robert’s participation in the war. Yeat’s ambivalence towards war is further suggested in his poem Easter 1916 which was written in response to the Irish uprising of 1916, where it was “a battle of David and Goliath” in many ways as the Irish fortify for independence when the…show more content…In “no likely end could bring them loss/Or leave them happier than before” suggests that whatever the outcome of this war will not let them lose anything, which reinforces the speaker's views on this pointless war. He feels no obligation to this war “Nor law, nor duty bade me fight, Nor public man, nor cheering crowds” the negation of this in conjunction with his use of anaphora with ‘Nor’ focuses the audience's attention to this meaningless war and his devotion to his country and not bloodshed. Similarly, Easter 1916 the palinode to September 1913, advises the insignificance of political conformity and the changes that had taken place/were developing in Ireland. In Stanza two he delineates the indifference and Easter Rebellion through his description of the leading figures in the Easter Rebellion. Suggesting a that Constance Markievicz is a figure of “ignorant good-will/ Her night in argument/Until her voice grew shrill” this imitation of Markievicz through imagery and antithesis he conveys that this dream of Irish independence is not yet a reality, as before Easter 1916 people only talked of rebellion, however they compliantly conformed to England’s rule instead of ensuing change. The imagery farther enhances the idea of Markievicz and the deceptive aspect of appearances, whereas the use of antithesis of